Be Free. Stay Free.

EXPOSE | Freedom first

“We need to orient our lives on the clear statements of Scripture regarding God’s will. And here is one: “For freedom Christ has set us free. (from Gal. 5:1)” Christ’s will for you is that you enjoy freedom. Where you go to school, what job you do, where you live, etc., are not nearly so crucial as whether you stand fast in freedom.” – John Piper, founder and teacher of desiringGod.org, and chancellor of Bethlehem College & Seminary.

EXPLORE | Finding freedom

I’m not as much of a “new music guy” as I once was. I think there is something to the idea that whatever your music genre happens to be when you’re a teenager, that is where you’re likely to stay.

Looking at my channels on Pandora, it is predominantly made up of 80’s and 90’s rock and pop rock. One channel that takes me back to that season in my life when I discovered Christian rock is my Stryper channel. Recently, their song Free got me thinking about freedom.

Free to turn away – say goodbye
Free to walk away – and deny
The gift waiting for you
Whispers a still small voice
It’s your choice – you’re…
Free… Free to do what you want to
Choose your own destiny…
Stryper, “Free” from their album “To Hell with the Devil” (1986)

Most crucial, and foundational, is finding freedom in Christ. Piper points us to Galatians 5:1 and the fact that Christ has set us free unlike anyone or anything ever could. Just look at how the Bible describes our lives without the freedom we have in Christ:

we live as slaves to sin (John 8:34)
we do not acknowledge God, and are “filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice… envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness… gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless.” (Romans 1: 29-31)
we are dead in our sins (Colossians 2:13)
we are destined to face the consequence of our sin, which is death (Romans 6:23)

Stryper singing about choosing your own destiny–is it really even a choice when we are honest about what our lives will consist of if we choose to live without Christ?

Receiving the gift of freedom that Christ offers, we are free from enslavement to the destructive life of opposition to God. Free from its penalty. Free from its power. Free to experience the abundant life God alone can provide. This–is true freedom.

“The primary message of the book of Galatians is freedom… freedom from sin, freedom from judgment, freedom from hell, freedom from all forms of spiritual bondage, and liberation into the glorious purposes and grace of God.”
John McArthur

However, the very thing that Christ set us free from, is precisely what our world believes they should have the freedom to do.

I’m stepping through a series Paul Tripp had done on the book of Proverbs. In one session he talks about how Proverbs speaks to sexual sin. The point he stated wisdom makes is that “pleasure without boundaries is dangerous”. The same can be said about the world’s definition of freedom: freedom without boundaries is dangerous.

Regardless of the effort our culture makes to have us think otherwise, we are not free to do whatever we want, nor should we be. We see that plainly in Romans 1 mentioned previously, not to mention the consequences that swirl all around as a result of people having rejected Christ’s offer of real freedom.

Unfortunately, the way of the world can be very distracting, and, sometimes extremely attractive to us, leading us to long for the way things used to be. The longer we leave this longing unchecked, we risk reverting back to loving what we should hate.

Looking further at Galatians 5:1, we see the key to remaining free (emphasis mine):

“For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.”
Galatians 5:1

Being see free is not just a one-time turning point, but the beginning of a way of life that needs to be fought for continuously.

EXECUTE | Once free, stay that way

Standing firm and not submitting again to a yoke of slavery requires that we are sensitive and remain diligent. You could call this spiritual situational awareness, coupled with a habitual grounding in who we are in Christ. We need to be aware of our surroundings while also ensuring that we are intentional in our standing firm.

Staying free first requires an answer to a key question. With that question answered, we must hold to a clear understanding of who we are as a “free person.” Building on that, to help us remain grounded, I created questions to ask to keep us free from being distracted by, or attracted to, our old way of life without Christ.

Are you free indeed?

Being free is so significant, but unfortunately, we don’t realize how significant it is until it is limited or taken away. Even worse, is believing that we are free when we are in fact enslaved.

So, first things first. Are you free–indeed? Receiving the freedom Christ offers is the first step.

I hadn’t listened to John Piper’s Solid Joy daily devotional for some time, but one morning, as I was writing this article, decided to take one in. Wouldn’t you know it, but that day’s devotional was titled ‘The Only True Freedom.” In it, he provides a philosophical compliment to the biblical principle of freedom in
Christ. He points out 4 things (desire, ability, opportunity, and happiness forever) that need to be true in order for us to be truly, genuinely free.

It is such a good illustration for understanding freedom, and in particular, it is the last point that is most persuasive. Unless we are ‘happy forever’, we can’t say that we are truly free. In other words, if something destroys you in the end, are you truly free?

The prevailing line of thinking in our culture would argue that if we’re able to do whatever we want, we are truly free. However, it if kills you in the end, can you say you are actually free–indeed? Freedom to live eternally is the freedom Christ offers, and that, is true freedom.

Remember who you are

Freedom in Christ means that we are not only rightly related to God, but that we have the opportunity to experience what it means to truly be alive. The website Got Questions helpfully strings together several key aspects of our new nature and our relationship with God:

Believers are indwelt by the Holy Spirit and are characterized by a joyous freedom to follow Christ and God’s design for life (Galatians 2:20)… believers are free not to live for sin and are free to live holy lives in Christ… to live in relationship to God and others the way He intended (Galatians 5:13)… free to live an abundant life (John 10:10)… and have been given everything we need for life and godliness (2 Peter 1:3)
Got Questions: What does it mean that for freedom Christ has set us free?

This is our new life of freedom in Christ. Keeping this foremost in our minds will allow us to respond accordingly to the temptation to return to our former ways of life.

A question of freedom

As part of their Key Bible Verses series, Crossway provides a helpful look at 10 Scriptures focusing on how the Bible defines or describes freedom. Based on that article, I’ve created questions that will provide a context for our remaining free.

When considering whether or not you should do something, is it spiritually profitable for you to do it? What is the potential for it controlling you? (1 Corinthians 6:12)
Are you using your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh? (Galatians 5:13–14)
Are you ‘abiding’ with Christ such that you are holding fast to the truth and keeping from ‘the practice of sin’? (John 8:31–36)
Freedom is where the Spirit is; what is your proximity to the Spirit? (2 Corinthians 3:17)
Are you walking in dependence on the Spirit or your flesh to ‘stay free’? (Romans 8:1–4)
Are you living as a person who is free– freely fearing God and honoring others? (1 Peter 2:16–17)
How persistent are you in “proclaiming liberty to the captives” helping them see and know the truth? (Isaiah 61:1)
Are you “presenting yourself” in obedience to what leads to righteousness? (Romans 6:16–18)
Ask the Lord to recall that He has set you free “from everything from which you could not be freed by the law…” (Acts 13:38–39)

When you think of freedom, I wouldn’t be surprised (or offended–too much) if Stryper’s song Free didn’t come to mind. More likely, it is stories of war and the preaching of the Gospel that help us see the sacrifice and triumph of freedom. One good reminder for me is the movie Braveheart. In it, William Wallace, along with his fellow Scotsman, make a life-sacrificing commitment to their country’s freedom. The movie ends with a shout of freedom–the very last word spoken by Wallace as he was beheaded for his resistance to English rule.

In one sense, you could say it was our Father screaming ‘freedom’ from the cross as His son made a far greater sacrifice and triumph for our freedom.

If Christ has set you free, you are free indeed. Stay that way.

___

Wisdom Posters & Postcards

EXPOSE | Freedom first

EXPLORE | Finding freedom

EXECUTE | Once free, stay that way

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